1Hear , O Israel : thou art to pass over the Jordan this day , to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven , 2a people great and tall , the sons of the Anakim , whom thou knowest , and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak ? 3Know therefore this day , that Jehovah thy God is he who goeth over before thee as a devouring fire; he will destroy them , and he will bring them down before thee : so shalt thou drive them out , and make them to perish quickly , as Jehovah hath spoken unto thee . 4Speak not thou in thy heart , after that Jehovah thy God hath thrust them out from before thee , saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land ; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah doth drive them out from before thee . 5Not for thy righteousness , or for the uprightness of thy heart , dost thou go in to possess their land ; but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah thy God doth drive them out from before thee , and that he may establish the word which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac , and to Jacob . 6Know therefore , that Jehovah thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiffnecked people .
The Warning Against Pride
7Remember , forget thou not , how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness : from the day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt , until ye came unto this place , ye have been rebellious against Jehovah . 8Also in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath , and Jehovah was angry with you to destroy you . 9When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you , then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water . 10And Jehovah delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God ; and on them was written according to all the words , which Jehovah spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly . 11And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights , that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant . 12And Jehovah said unto me , Arise , get thee down quickly from hence ; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves ; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them ; they have made them a molten image .
Moses' Intercession
13Furthermore Jehovah spake unto me , saying, I have seen this people , and , behold , it is a stiffnecked people : 14let me alone , that I may destroy them , and blot out their name from under heaven ; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they . 15So I turned and came down from the mount , and the mount was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands . 16And I looked , and , behold , ye had sinned against Jehovah your God ; ye had made you a molten calf : ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you . 17And I took hold of the two tables , and cast them out of my two hands , and brake them before your eyes . 18And I fell down before Jehovah , as at the first , forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water ; because of all your sin which ye sinned , in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah , to provoke him to anger . 19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure , wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you . But Jehovah hearkened unto me that time also . 20And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him : and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time . 21And I took your sin , the calf which ye had made , and burnt it with fire, and stamped it , grinding it very small , until it was as fine as dust : and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount .
The Consequences of Disobedience
22And at Taberah , and at Massah , and at Kibroth-hattaavah , ye provoked Jehovah to wrath . 23And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea , saying , Go up and possess the land which I have given you ; then ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God , and ye believed him not , nor hearkened to his voice . 24Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you . 25So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down , because Jehovah had said he would destroy you . 26And I prayed unto Jehovah , and said , O Lord Jehovah , destroy not thy people and thine inheritance , that thou hast redeemed through thy greatness , that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand . 27Remember thy servants , Abraham, Isaac , and Jacob ; look not unto the stubbornness of this people , nor to their wickedness , nor to their sin , 28lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say , Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he promised unto them , and because he hated them , he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness . 29Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance , which thou broughtest out by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm .